Knowledge Problem

Knowing What’s Best

Pat Lynch

Have been consistently surprised and disappointed by the extended public and private mourning period the American left is wallowing in. The public hand-wringing over the values debate has obscured a more disturbing trend I’ve seen among Democrats – conceit.

Implicit in a lot of the complaints from the left has been the notion that “dumb” voters made the “wrong” choice. How dare they not see that more government sponsored economic management would be better than the values and tax cuts of the Bush administration? How stupid can people be to vote for a guy who can’t finish sentences?

Well this George Will column from Newsweek does a nice job getting to the core of those complaints. More generally, if you haven’t seen Jim Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds you should. And recommend it to any leftie friends you have. It might wake them up to the silly idea that people know their own best interest and are probably closer to getting things right any some group of blue state intellectuals.